1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to alternative payment systems, and more particularly to a system, method and computer program product for providing registration, integration, payment processing and data capture.
2. Related Art
The primary way consumers pay for items online is with the use of financial transaction instruments (e.g., credit or debit cards or “plastic”), where a user enters card and shipping information after having selected one or more items. Alternative-payment systems have been developed to provide alternative means of transaction processing, both for the buyer and the merchant. Examples include payment services such as Google Checkout, Bill Me Later, and eBay's PayPal.
One common aspect of many alternative payment systems is the registry function, which requires customers to preload information such as personal information and transaction account information into registry databases. Consumers opt-in and provide these systems with their personal information as well as transaction account information.
The payment form accepted by various alternative payment systems may differ, however. For example, some allow the buyer to pay with a credit or debit card versus paying with a checking account.
From the buyer's perspective, one advantage of alternative payment systems is that only one set of buyer credentials is necessary to use multiple commerce sites. If, for example, a buyer's credit card expires or needs to be reissued because of fraud or some other reason, with alternative payment systems the buyer is not required to go to all of the commerce sites with which the buyer transacts and change any saved card info. Instead, at worst, the buyer need only make one change.
On the merchant side, conventional alternative payment systems require a merchant to create new processes and technology each time a new payment form is added to a merchant's infrastructure. This involves building entirely new linkages to accommodate the new payment solutions. Reconfiguring such an infrastructure can be costly and therefore not practical for some businesses.
Notwithstanding the benefits provided by existing alternative payment systems, there is a need for a payment solution which maintains customer privacy, provides fast, secure and convenient payment functionality while reducing the integration requirements for merchants. There also is a need to maintain buyer privacy while collecting aggregate data about purchases made through such payment solutions and providing consumer approved services.
Given the foregoing, what is needed is a system, method and computer program product for processing payments.